Woman attacked by bike thief on Dexter Avenue North

At 6:45 a.m this morning, a woman was attacked while riding her bike on Dexter Avenue North by a man attempting to steal her bicycle.

While H.Y. has a black eye and a bruised mouth, the attacker was unsuccessful in taking her bike.

H.Y. was heading north, coming up to the bus stop just below the Aurora Bridge, when she saw a pedestrian. She slowed down, anticipating him to cross the street in front of her. Instead the man pushed her, punched her twice in the face and grabbed a hold of her bike. H.Y. fought back, pushing the attacker off her and freeing herself and her bike. The attacker tripped and fell, allowing H.Y. to reach for an old knife she carried in her pack. When the attacker saw that she had a knife, he ran off but returned only moments later to warn her not to call the cops. He then got on the next bus and left the scene. While H.Y. has a black eye and a bruised mouth, the man was unsuccessful in taking her bike. “I would like to get the word out that a cyclist was attacked while cycling downhill. I always felt safe from attacks while moving. I have also felt absolute no threat from pedestrians on Dexter. This is no longer true,” she stated. H.Y. said she was glad to have an old scuba knife on her as she fears pepper spray would not have stopped her attacker. H.Y. described her attacker as a black male in his late twenties or early thirties. He was wearing a leopard design hoody, dark jacket and sport glasses. She said he was around 5’8’’, built like a runner, clean shaven and had short hair. He was last seen taking the 28 bus. Please contact Seattle Police Officer Parnell at 206.684-8917 if you have any information. Remember to report (attempted) bike thefts, hazards and bike crashes on BikeWise.org.

Chances are they can ID him down to the Orca card he might have used to board the bus, cross referenced to the timestamp of the image of man in leopard print hoodie boarding the 28 at 6:50am. But this reminds me how difficult it was for me to get the video footage from Macy's of a car hitting me on my bike on 3rd. The police weren't willing to help, as I was going to be fine, and it was the insurance companies who were responsible for finding fault with the traffic violation. Macy's required a court-order to release video footage.